


Thief of Phantoms

by ToukoTai



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Paranormal Investigators AU, Psychic Abilities, can be read as pre kai/shin, exorcist AU, livin that Sixth Sense lifestyle, livin that private detective lifestyle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-10-31 18:13:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10904730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToukoTai/pseuds/ToukoTai
Summary: Shinichi hunts ghosts in his ample spare time when he's not hunting murderers. (No one would guess the two are related.)Kaito's always had a strange relationship with the dead. No one really believes him, even when he's telling the truth. (So he might as well make a show and a living of it, right?)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> prologues are always so short.

It starts with a ghost story, and a developer and a historical society.

There’s a ghost in the old rundown theater, they tell him. You can hear it in the dark, walking up and down the aisles of empty faded velvet covered chairs. An usher who died on the job. No I heard it was an actor crushed by a falling set piece. No no, it’s an electrician electrocuted before opening night! It changes from person to person but all agree the old theater on the edge of campus has a ghost.

_Yeah so?_ He says. _All theaters worth their salt have a ghost._

This one is different. They say. This one is dangerous. This one is  _ pure. evil. _

_Fine I’ll check it out_ , he says as sarcastically as he can. _Let me just cancel_ _**all** my appointments for this evening. _

_You didn’t have any anyway._ His sometimes secretary and childhood best friend says. _Go bust some ghosts._

_That is not even remotely what I do_ , he says with painful dignity. 

It’s exactly what he does.

_Fine, go steal some ghosts, thief of Phantoms_. She says, cheerfully with a wave, shooing him out the door.

_I’m docking your pay!_ He shouts as she pushes him into the hallway.

_You don’t pay me!_ She replies, slamming his office door closed.

_ Pure. Evil. _ They tell him again in the hallway with wide eyes and shaking voices. The Historical society should be renamed the Jumping at Shadows Society in his opinion.

_Oh, put a sock in it._ He says, brushing off his arms, pretending he didn’t just get thrown out of his own office.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's some unexpected co workers on this theater job and Kaito isn't quite sure how to handle the lead inspector. Now Hakuba on the other hand, Kaito can handle just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kaito doesn't do any of his trademark theatrics that he normally does when on an exorcist job because 1. he didn't actually expect anyone else to be there and 2. he's not on board with this job. He had a perfectly good night of reading bad romance novels and staring at his ceiling planned, why'd you have to go ruin that for him Aoko?

Kaito’s angry march to the derelict theater was ruined by the sudden thunderstorm that sprang up. So it wasn't so much a march as a mad dash from cover to cover, until he came to the main entrance of the theater.

He was expecting the place to be empty, abandoned, no living person in sight.

He was unfortunately wrong.

“Kuroba, what a pleasant not exactly surprise.” Hakuba greeted him at the door, holding it open.

“I cannot believe you managed that with a straight face.” Kaito pushed passed him into the gloomy lobby, water dripping off his coat and hair the entire way. “Shouldn’t you be off in like  _ Ireland _ or something, chasing ghosts out there?” Whatever Hakuba opened his mouth to say was cut off when the big double doors to the main stage suddenly banged open.

“Hakuba, has the-oh,” The stranger blinked at the two of them. “You know the psychic?” This was a new...well, not entirely new face. For being a complete stranger the guy hanging out of the doors to the main stage was almost a dead ringer for Kaito.

“Unfortunately, Kudo. I believe I have mentioned before that he’s a former classmate of mine.” Hakuba answered. The other man slid out into the foyer, the doors closing behind him. Kaito fought the urge to squirm under his intense searching stare.

“Charmed.” Kaito smiled vaguely in the new man’s direction.

“Quite. Hakuba, why don’t you bring him in and we can finish setting everything up?” Hakuba didn’t bother saying anything else to Kaito. Just cut him a glare and followed the other man into the theater, leaving Kaito alone in the lobby. Kaito took a deep breath and let it out in a sneeze.

One of the things he greatly disliked about these old places, was the amount of dust that played hell on his allergies. He draped his wet coat over the old ticket booth counter before heading through the main theater doors.

 

Inside there was a flurry of activity, as what looked like the entire, expensive contents of an electronics store were being assembled on a pair of long folding tables. Screens, laptops, hard drives, infra-red, audio recording devices of all kinds. If they didn’t catch a ghost they could probably hold their own LAN party instead. Three young kids, middle school to highschool age by the look of it, were squirming under the tables arguing about cables and cords and wifi. There was a girl who looked an awful lot like Aoko counting audio recorders and camcorders off to the side. Pairing the pieces of mobile equipment up and sticking bright matching sets of stickers on each grouping.

And just in front of all this controlled chaos, Hakuba was having a slight hissing fit at the Kaito lookalike.

“Kuroba is a complete fraud. He has extensive training as a performer and uses that to create entirely theatrical  _ exorcisms _ of supposedly haunted places.” Kaito figured if they were talking about him, it was within his grounds to butt into the conversation.

“Aw, tell me how you  _ really _ feel. I thought you’d given up on me!”

“Trying to disprove your ridiculous sideshow exorcisms is well worth my time.” Hakuba snarled. Kaito smiled in response.

“You can’t argue with the results.”

“Those places were never haunted to begin with.” Hakuba argued anyway. Because of course he could. “Ghosts do not exist. You cheated them out of their money.”

“Have you told Aoko that yet?” Kaito would swear to every jury that he was being completely innocent with his question. And every jury would still convict him. As would Hakuba, given the expression he made. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’.” He left Hakuba to worry over if Kaito himself would break the news to Aoko and turned to his newest fan. “So...Kudo is it?”

“Oh, just call me Shinichi, we’re equally experienced in these cases after all.” Shinichi smiled happily at him, even holding out a hand that Kaito tentatively shook.

“Riiiiiiiight,” Kaito dragged out. Something about this guy was just rubbing him in all the wrong ways. “Shinichi. Why are you here?”

“The owner asked us to spot check for a second opinion. He wasn’t quite satisfied with the historical society’s plan of hiring you. Um, no offense.” Shinichi coughed, quickly moving on when Kaito’s face didn’t change in the slightest from his neutral bland look of polite interest. He gestured at the equipment set up around them as he continued his explanation. “We hope by using scientific means of gathering data and recording phenomena over the course of our investigation we can prove that there is no ghost here.”

“You uh...you do that.” Kaito managed, no wonder Hakuba liked this guy. He spoke his weird science-y language.

“We’ll be staying for a period of three nights, you’re welcome to stay with us, though I know you usually don’t work more then one night on any case.” Kaito blinked at him. That had been quite the torrent of words, squished out in a really short time. If he didn’t know better, he’d say Shinichi was a little nervous. Kaito looked past the other man’s shoulder at Hakuba’s ernest expression. No, this guy was for real then. He really was offering to let the fraud psychic sit around for three nights. 

As if.

“Sounds um... _ interesting _ .”  _ Boring _ . “But I’ll pass.” Kaito said finally, after a long moment of silence had turned awkward. “I’ll just hang out over in the fourth row.” He gestured vaguely with his arm. “And uh...you do your thing.”

“The fourth row?” Shinichi looked a little surprised. “Interesting choice.” Kaito shrugged, considering the conversation finished in his mind, he turned. “Here, take a flashlight with you. For safety of course. I noticed you didn’t have one of your own.” Yeah sure, he  _ noticed _ . Kaito accepted the small plastic flashlight, and picked his way carefully across the floor and down the gently sloping aisle to the fourth row. Settling down seven seats into the row, he leaned back and sneezed from the dust released. Eyes focusing on the dark, shadowy ceiling above him, he listened to the sounds of the investigation team scuttling around in the expanse. He squirmed around, getting himself situated for the night.

 

Hakuba shook him awake just as the first rays of dawnlight were spilling across the sky.

“Get everything you need?” Kaito asked, his words distorted with a badly muffled yawn. Hakuba’s eyebrow twitched.

“Did you?”

“Mmmmm, yes.” Kaito stood up, listing slightly to the side until Hakuba pulled him straight. “I did what I came to.”

“You slept the entire time.” Hakuba accused.

“I came to do that.”

“I am ashamed to know you.”

“Welp, I better be going.” Kaito stretched his arms above his head, listening to the series of pops from his back that accompanied the movement.

“Are you sure you won’t stay for the rest of the investigation?” The words seemed to be dragged from Hakuba’s mouth.

“Aw Hakuba, do you miss me that much?” Kaito fluttered his lashes at Hakuba’s slightly outraged expression.

“No, Kudo mentioned he would like to chat with you about your...other cases.” Kaito shrugged.

“I don’t have any interest in hanging around, it’s not like you’re going to find anything anyway. Laters!” Kaito sang out, completely ignoring what Hakuba had said as he stumbled out into the lobby to collect his now damp, not sopping wet, coat. Talking about his past cases with a science geek on par with Hakuba was not what Kaito would call a good time.

So he bid the whole affair and Shinichi Kudo farewell in his mind and resolved to stay away from Hakuba for a good long while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hakuba is my favorite buzzkill, he doesn't actually hunt ghosts per se. He's more interested in exposing fake psychics and mediums. I just imagine him in this AU going around unmasking fake psychics by jumping out from behind those floor length parlor curtains yelling 'You SHAM!"  
> He tried to do the same to Kaito but it did not work. It has never worked, it will never work, go get a new hobby Hakuba. Leave the entertainer alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Three days later, a strangely triumphant Shinichi Kudo slammed the door to his office open, causing Kaito to fumble the book he was reading and lose the precarious balance of his chair.

“Um, you have to phone first to schedule an appointment.” Kaito said, once he had stopped having a minor heart attack, as the other man strode over to his desk.

“I called your secretary, she said you didn’t have any appointments today.” Shinichi tossed a thin cd case onto the desk top. “Explain  _ this _ .” He jabbed a finger onto the case, holding it down with the tip of his pointer finger. Kaito peered at it, if only to have the excuse to look away from Shinichi’s bright eyed borderline crazy person stare.

“It looks like a compact disc. A cd, if you will. I hear you can put music and other bits of data on them.” Shinichi did not look impressed, though he hadn’t lost that strange energetic spark.

“It’s the audio files for the times between one and two in the morning at the theater.”

“Uh-huh. And that involves me how? I was asleep.” Kaito could see where this was going though. He knew  _ exactly _ what had been happening in that hour.

“Then you must talk a lot about  _ pointless tantrums _ and  _ wasting your time here when she’s waiting for you _ in your sleep. What kind of dreams do you even  _ have _ in that case?”

“Wow, your mics are super sensitive.” Kaito tried to avoid answering.

“Of course not!” Shinichi snapped. “I bugged the flashlight I gave you.”

“That seems like an incredible invasion of privacy.”

“I wanted to know if Hakuba was right about you.” 

“And?”

“Hakuba’s wrong.” Shinichi leaned in close, eyes alight with eagerness. Kaito, leaning back, was making a mental note to talk to Aoko about letting random people into his office as Shinichi continued. “You’re the furthest thing from a fraud there is.”

“I could have just been talking in my sleep. Like you said.” Kaito pointed out half heartedly.

“Do you know what an EMF is?” Shinichi asked abruptly in response. Kaito swore instead of answering. “That cd contains the other half of your conversation. Entirely in emf. You were speaking to, you were speaking  _ with _ the ghost.” Kaito wrinkled his nose as he squinted at Shinichi across the desk. 

“You look excited, why do you look excited?” Kaito rambled. “I thought you were all  _ ghost don’t exist in the face of science _ .” He used the sarcastic scientist voice and Shinichi didn’t even blink.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Kaito.” He smiled at Kaito, wide and happy. Like finding out Kaito was an honest to god ghost whisperer was the greatest thing to happen in his life. Maybe it was, the guy did run around supposedly haunted buildings in the dead of night for a living. Well, so did Kaito, but it wasn’t like he had a choice or anything. “I did some reading on you. Kaito Kuroba, the Thief of Phantoms. You don’t actually steal them, do you?” At Kaito’s squinted look of disbelief, Shinichi hastened to defend himself. “At this point I’m not sure what  _ not _ to believe.” Kaito sighed and gestured irritably to the client’s chair. Shinichi didn’t need any prodding, thumping down in the seat yet continuing to eagerly await Kaito’s explanation.

“No, I don’t  _ steal _ ghosts. I send them on their way or exorcise them if I have to.”

“Exorcism?” Shinichi looked interested. “Wouldn’t you have to have some kind of religious training for that?” Kaito smirked.

“Intent is actually like eighty five percent of exorcism, I memorized some fancy prayers for the occasion, but I get charms from a witch to help out with the stubborn ones.” Shinichi’s mouth did a weird twist. It looked like there were limits to his suspension of disbelief after all. “Oh come on, you accept me,” Kaito gestured at himself with one hand. “At almost face value, as a ghost psychic but not the existence of witches?”

“You I have proof for, I don’t have evidence for a witch.” Shinichi stated, fairly turning his nose up at the mere thought of a scientifically unproven witch. Kaito thought that was rather endearing in a way. “How did it start?” Kaito blinked, a little taken aback at the forwardness. Shinichi didn’t even have the grace to look sheepish. “When did you first realize what was going on?” He prompted when it looked like Kaito wasn’t going to answer him.

“The first ghost I ever talked to was the lady next door.” What the hell, why not humor the maniac? Maybe once he had the answers he wanted, he’d leave. And then Kaito could get down to the real business of napping.

“Your next door neighbor? That seems completely random.” Shinichi still looked as eager as ever, even over such a mundane story.

“I was five at the time, she died of a heart attack, had some messages she wanted to pass on. Pretty par for the course as hauntings go. My mother…” Kaito trailed off, his childhood was very hit and miss, with more misses then hits it seemed. “She wasn’t happy with me. I wasn’t a smart kid back then, blabbed everything I was told. My father always said it was a gift, but after he died...she couldn’t stay. I was too much for her to take in on her own. I think she was worried one day I’d start talking to him.” Kaito shook himself all over like a dog. Missed Shinichi’s slight wince. “It’s better if people believe me a fraud, believe in the  _ theatrics _ as Hakuba put it, then what I really am.” Shinichi nodded solemnly, eyes taking a slight distant cast. “You were pretty quick to believe though.” Kaito mused, watching Shinichi carefully. Because he had been  _ very  _ quick to believe, for a man of ‘Science’ as Hakuba had claimed he was.

“You could say I share your unique talent but with a twist.” That certainly explained a lot. Shinichi had a lot more then recorded audio proof then. So why hadn’t he approached the theater ghost himself, why had he looked surprised at Kaito’s choice of seating when the ghost had been  _ right there _ the entire time?

“Oh really?” Kaito was curious, his full attention on Shinichi. It wasn’t the first time he’d run into someone like him. But everyone was different, Kaito wondered what the ‘unique twist’ was.

“You see ghosts correct?” Kaito nodded. 

“A lot more then  _ see _ really.” He grumbled.

“I only see those who were murdered.” Well, that explained the theater ghost, Shinichi hadn’t been able to see him after all. “They don’t talk to me, and sometimes they ignore me completely. But I can see them just fine.” Shinichi continued. “I was...excited to find there might be someone else like me.” Kaito snorted and gestured flippantly with one hand.

“Well, what are you going to do now that you know?”

“I propose a partnership.” Shinichi leaned forward. “My abilities are limited, but your’s are not. We could make quite a team.”

“You realize not all murders leave behind ghosts, right?” Shinichi nodded.

“But enough of them do.”

“You also realize that they lie or they might not know the answers you’re looking for?” Shinichi nodded again.

“I trust your experience and ability in this matter. I can only see them, I can’t hear, I don’t get their attention the way you do.” Kaito rolled his eyes, plunking his cheek into the palm of his hand, elbow braced on his desk.

“Tell me about it.” And Shinichi, instead of taking that as the sarcastic throwaway line it was, went on to explain exactly what the limits of his version of the ability were. 

 

Sight only basically. He couldn’t interact with a ghost unless the ghost specifically interacted with him first. This included hearing.

“I’ve gotten really good at lip reading, I can only hear them when they’re speaking to me, directly.”

“Why me?” Kaito couldn’t keep it to himself anymore. “You knew before you met me in the theater.” He’s sure of that. The way that Shinichi hadn’t looked surprised to see  _ him _ , hadn’t been taken aback at their similar appearance, had looked more then a little happy, had been oh so eager to lend him the flashlight that was bugged. 

Because why bug the fake psychic? Unless you didn’t believe he was fake. Shinichi grinned for a moment before that faded into something a little more...sad. Kaito decided he probably wasn’t going to like this next part.

“Like I said, most of the ghosts I see don’t talk to me, in fact  _ all _ of the ghosts I see, don’t seem to notice I’m there. Except for one. When I was sixteen, I found him in the library at my house. He was reading my father’s Lupin collection.” Kaito forced his hands not to ball into fists, kept his face blank with a small quizzical smile. “His death had been incorrectly ruled an accident. My name was kept off the reports due to my age of course. Being not even out of high school yet.”

“Of course.” Kaito agreed in a voice more natural then he felt.

“He was the first ghost to speak to me, the only one, in fact. He was very kind and very sad. He’d been a friend of my father’s, he told me he had a son just my age. That he was very sad to have to leave and he wanted to know if I could settle a few last things for him.” Kaito almost stopped breathing, but forced himself to take the timed breaths a psychologist who had been hit by a car taught him to do years ago.

“My father?” He managed to ask, not trusting himself to say more just yet. Shinichi, it seemed, was perfectly happy to take things at his pace.

“Yes. He told me all about you.” His voice and expression were gentle. “I wanted to have proof when we met face to face. I’m sorry it took me so long.”

“I need you to leave now.” Kaito was pretty proud that his voice didn’t shake or leak any emotion. He might not have been the magician he had dreamed of as a child, but he hadn’t let his Poker Face skills lapse. Shinichi was already getting out of his seat. A look of understanding, not pity, on his face.

“Of course. I’ll see myself out.”

As soon as the door clicked closed, Kaito’s forehead hit the desktop with a thunk. He curled his arms over his head, blocking out as much of the world as he could and just sat there.

For hours. 

Listening to the almost quiet.


	4. Chapter 4

“I don’ see why  _ I _ have ta follow him. Hakuba’s tha one who knows him.”

“That’s  _ why  _ you have to follow him. Kaito knows Hakuba, he’d recognize him. He doesn’t know to look for you. I kept you out of his way during the investigation on purpose.” A pause down the phoneline as Hattori ambled slowly after his target. Kaito had stopped on the pedestrian bridge, leaning against the railing, idly kicking the toe of his sneaker against the metal. “I want him to agree. I need him to agree.”

“Don’ explain why I’m out ‘ere followin’ him.”

“I may have upset him very badly, and I don’t know his habits for coping.” Hattori huffed, Kaito had started moving again, hands shoved deep in his coat pockets, head tilted down, avoiding eye contact with everyone as he walked down the streets.

“Dude hasn’t done anythin’ if it makes ya feel better. Just sat in his office and now he’s jus’ wanderin around tha streets.” Kaito actually seemed to be walking with more purpose now, heading away from the shopping and nightlife district his office was inexplicably located in and toward the more residential areas. “Damn. He’s headin’ off tha mainways. Call ya back.”

It seemed Kaito was far too out of it to be paying much attention to any tagalongs he had, because not only did he wander into the residential area, with a severe drop in foot traffic, he walked right into the very,  _ very _ well to do area. Where they were the only two on the sidewalks and he still didn’t notice Hattori.

Finally he stopped at an estate mansion set far back from the main roads. Kaito tapped the intercom at the closed wrought iron gates. Hattori had managed to get himself some cover in the form of a line of hedges, so he’d felt comfortable to edge close enough to overhear the one sided conversation.

“Tell the hag I’m here to see her.” Was the opening gambit. There was a slight pause as Kaito tilted his head, seemed to consider something and then added. “Of my own free will. Yes, I’m as surprised as you are.” He stepped back from intercom, shoving his hands back into his coat pockets. In less then a minute the gates were squealing open. Kaito looked up at the mansion, the full moon rising right behind it, painting the place in the eerie white glow, snorted and walked in. The gates squealed closed behind him. Hattori yanked his phone up, snapping a pic quickly and carefully.

“If he ends up murdered tonight, I won’t be surprised.” Was the only thing he put in the caption before sending it off.

 

“I’m always impressed by how much you commit to this whole get up.” Kaito dropped his coat over the back of the large, red velvet, winged chair, slumping down into the cushion himself with a sigh.

“Only the best for you, my dear.” Akako purred, from her place in the matching chair. The fire crackled and spat in the grate, casting dark shadows on the book shelves, couches, statues and other strange art pieces arranged around the sitting room. The only source of light in the room coming from the fire and a few choice candles, wax artfully dribbled down the sides, sitting on the end table between the two chairs.

Her butler set down a tea tray, poured the tea into the matching cups and left with a bow. Kaito waited until Akako had taken the first few sips from her cup and even then, did so tentatively of his own. Akako giggled at him, the back of her hand coming up to cover her mouth.

“Do you trust me so little, thief?” Kaito set the teacup back down on the tray, suddenly uninterested in the pretense of manners.

“Remind me, which one of us has a track record of trying to kill the other?” Akako smirked at him over the rim of her teacup.

“I don’t know what you’re complaining about. It never seems to stick.” He glared at her.

“It’s the thought that counts.” He snapped. Akako waved her hand vaguely in the air, as though such attempts on his life were unimportant.

“What can I do for you this evening, Kuroba?” She asked.

“As much as it pains me to ask this, which is like a lot, it pains me  _ so much _ ,” Akako smiled at him, thin lipped like a snake. “I want your advice.” She sat back in her chair, the smile taking on a pleased aspect that Kaito didn’t like at all.

“Well, well. I certainly didn’t expect  _ that _ . The thief of phantoms  _ finally  _ coming to me for advice?” She steepled her hands over her lap. “It appears that dreams really do come true after all. I wonder how long until my other dreams come true?” Kaito barely repressed a shiver up his spine.

“Do I need an adult?” Akako laughed at him. “Or a priest?” He tried. This was a horrible idea, a very bad, no good idea. But it was really, his only option. Akako was as unbiased an opinion as he could get on this state of affairs.

“I promise to make no moves in our game on this visit, Kuroba.” Kaito stared at her searchingly from his seat. And decided that he may as well ask her what he came to.

“Someone came to offer me a partnership today.”

“Oh?” Akako’s eyes brightened. “And who would that be? To rattle you so much you sought me out of your own free will?”

“Kudo. Shinichi Kudo.” Akako laughed again, crossing her legs elegantly.

“You mean Death’s Detective? Oh this is  _ funny _ .”

“How do  _ you  _ know about him?” Kaito sulked. It was completely unfair that Akako always seemed to know more then she was willing to share. Then again, Kaito never told Akako everything either. It was a very complicated and complex relationship they had going on. Some days just thinking about it made Kaito’s head spin. 

Actually, most days.

“Hakuba thinks a great deal of him.” The undertone of laughter was still in Akako’s voice.

“Of course he does.” Kaito grumbled, sinking down in the cushioned chair, trying not to feel like a petulant child. Judging from Akako’s heavily amused expression, he wasn’t managing it very well.

“So, Death’s Detective has offered you a partnership.” Akako laced her fingers together over her knee. “And this bothers you?” Kaito sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.

“He can see some of them too.”

“Let me guess, the recently murdered.” Akako supplied, refilling her teacup.

“I suppose it must be obvious.” Kaito muttered. “He wants us to work together. Thinks we’ll be unstoppable I guess? I don’t even really know.”

“And you don’t want to team up with him?”

“There’s...other things. Other issues.” Akako sipped her tea in thought, Kaito toyed with a loose thread on the chair cushion.

“I think,” She said finally, setting the cup down with a gentle click. “I think you should try this. A dove won’t know if it can fly if it doesn’t take a leap every now and then.” Kaito made a face at her.

“Right, it’s late. I’ll take your advice under extreme advisement.” He yanked his coat off the back of the chair, shrugging it on quickly.

“See that you do.” Akako returned mildly. 

“Good night, Witch.”

“Good evening, Thief.”

 

_ “Neva’ mind.” Hattori mumbled into his phone. On the other end Shinichi’s frantic triade came to an abrupt halt. “E’s comin’ out now. Looks fine. No worries, I guess.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoy writing Kaito and Akako trying to be civil to each other. It's my favorite thing.


	5. Chapter 5

“I have one condition.” Kaito didn’t even bother with small talk once Shinichi picked up the phone. The morning after talking to Akako, he’d decided on a course of action. And once decided, Kaito always followed through. And if Shinichi didn’t like phone calls at five in the morning then he shouldn’t have bothered Kaito in the first place.

“Anything.” Shinichi didn’t sound surprised so he’d probably gotten Kaito’s number from Hakuba. (He also didn’t sound groggy. Kaito felt a tiny bit disappointed about that.)

“I keep my office.” Kaito was very fond of his private office, it was the first place he’d rented and had to himself. He practically lived there. Okay, he  _ did _ live there. It was better then going back to the empty house at the end of the day.

“I was going to ask about just moving the whole enterprise there. There’s enough room for two or three more desks…?” Shinichi trailed off.

“Yeah sure, fine.” Kaito agreed. Things could be moved around, the couch for one. He might have to get rid of it and bid goodbye to living out of his office. “Why don’t we figure that out tonight?”

 

Shinichi and his associates showed up at five on the dot that evening. Shinichi, it appeared had even more friends then the ones at the theater investigation. Judging by the two extra people from Osaka he’d brought and the lady scientist who’d already commandeered the right side room Kaito had used as a darkroom once upon a time, and from the sounds she made, was turning it into a lab...or a bomb testing facility. Hard to tell really.

“Who are all these people?” Kaito paused to glance down at the three kids carrying boxes of computer equipment into the office. “Are we compliant with child labor laws?”

Aoko, on the other hand, was more then thrilled that Kaito was making new friends. She was equally as thrilled to meet her look alike, Ran. Kaito made a mental note to watch his mouth a lot more now that there were two girls with a mean right hook and sticklers for manners in his life.

“I guess you’ll just have to start living at your house again.” Aoko told him as two of Shinichi’s little middle schoolers hefted his couch out of the corner to make room for another desk. She sounded supremely satisfied. Kaito didn’t quite know what to make of that.

“She misses you.” Shinichi, who had only met Aoko just that evening, said in passing once Aoko had moved to supervising the set up in the side room. He laughed at the face Kaito made. “I’m really good at reading people.”

That turned out to be an understatement. Shinichi was a  _ savant _ at reading people. 

“I  _ am _ a detective.” Shinichi had said in an almost offended tone of voice when Kaito brought it up later that evening.

“Is that kid painting ‘K & K Investigations’ on my door?” Kaito diverted, lest he start laughing at Shinichi’s little kid style pout.

“It’s our door now.” Shinichi responded patiently, setting a cardboard box of files on his new desk. “And yes, he is.” Kaito squinted at the gold lettering being meticulously applied to the frosted glass of his door.

“You are just going all in on the private detective aesthetic, aren’t you?” Perhaps it was just his fate in life to know people who had such a flair for the dramatic. Then again, Kaito certainly couldn’t talk. Shinichi didn’t respond, instead busying himself with riffling through a drawer in the filing cabinet Kaito kept more for looks then anything else.

“Why do you have…” Shinichi paused, his eyebrows furrowing together as he studied the contents of the drawer. “Twenty different packs of cards and a yo-yo in here?”

“You mean you  _ don’t  _ have twenty packs of cards and a yo-yo?” Kaito asked, making his voice sound as innocent as possible. Shinichi shot him an unamused glare.

“Where are your files?” He asked, peering into the back of the open drawer.

“You’re looking at them.” Shinichi glanced back down at the drawer of cards. He fished a pack out, and checked on the cards inside. He looked back up at Kaito, confused.

“These are just cards, Kaito.” Kaito snickered, even Aoko, overhearing them, giggled behind her palm.

“I  _ was _ trained to be a magician,” Kaito explained. “Nothing is as it seems.” He gently tugged a card from the pack that Shinichi had. Held it up to the light, flipping it back and forth between his fingers, showing the front and back of the playing card. A two of spades. “Just an ordinary card, nothing to see here, until.” Kaito stopped with the card facing him, he flicked it with the fingers of his other hand. Listened with a satisfied smirk to the thwak sound and flipped the card back to facing Shinichi. Shinichi blinked.

“What the…” He held his hand out and Kaito passed him the card. Instead of the emblem of a two of spades, the card now had neat lines of writing all down the face and, when Shinichi turned it over, all down the back as well. He sent Kaito a sharp look. “They’re your files. You hid all your files in trick cards.” Shinichi squinted at the card in his hand. “ _ And _ you coded them.”

“Duh.” Kaito said, he stuck his hands into his hoodie pocket. “Can never be too careful with what’s in there.” A small hand tugged on his sleeve, Kaito looked down to see all three of the kids staring up at him with various degrees of delight, shock and curiosity on their faces.

It made him miss performing, honestly.

“How...how did you do that?” One of the kids asked, a note of awe in his voice.

“If I told you,” Kaito began, grinning all the while. “It would ruin the trick. A magician  _ never _ reveals his secrets.” The children looked disappointed at his answer. Shinichi hid his amusement by pulling out the yo-yo.

“What about this? Does it do anything?” Kaito grinned at him.

“Well, you put that loop of string around your middle finger, hold the yo-yo in the palm of your hand and drop it, if you twitch your finger it comes back up!” The flat look Shinichi gave him was practically two dimensional.

“I know how a yo-yo works.” Kaito held his hands up in mock surrender, schooling his features into pure innocence. 

“You did  _ ask _ .” Aoko, Ran and the kids could not stop the fit of laughter the exchange produced.

“This is how it’s going to be?” Shinichi canted his head to side, eyes scrutinizing Kaito.

“Yes.” Kaito said, teeth poking out in a grin, and was gratified to see Shinichi match it with his own.

“ _ Good _ .”

Maybe there was something to this partnership after all. Kaito was a little surprised to find himself looking forward to their first case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> their actual teamups involve Kaito going 'Whaaaat? Whaaaaaaaat? Why would you...who DOES that?" Every two minutes. He's used to ghosts but recent murders are a whole new thing for him. He accidentally manages to shame a few a murderers into confessing just by being so absolutely flabbergasted about the crime.  
> Shinichi remains convinced until his dying day, that this was the best idea he's ever had.  
> Hakuba remains convinced until his dying day that Shinichi took a dive off the deep end when he took on Kaito.


End file.
